General to Specific in 2 seconds

It has been quite some time since I have written.

I finished up the COMS 711 that occupied my time this Winter 2009 semester. Just to reiterate - best thing I've done yet. If anything at all, that type of course gets you used to being "out there alone" rather than safe within the comfort of a highly structured 15-person course.

Now I'm into the thick of things. I have selected a supervisor - or should I say that she has agreed to take me on? Anyway, we've met a few times and here is what I have learned.

During COMS 711, I had the opportunity to really take a wide angled look at my area of interest - student attrition/student transition into the undergraduate post-secondary experience.

Working with my supervisor in this fashion has proven to be an error. I met with her last week and was quite proud to show her all of the "progress" that I thought that I had made. For nearly 3 weeks, I had been looking with my wide lens at literature around Nursing programs (as I will be focusing on this type of academic program and the advising that occurs around it), the philosophy of Nursing programs, what they attempt to teach, etc. Very broad.

My supervisor, however, wanted the meat and the potatoes. What, specifically, is your thesis question? Who are you going to talk to to get this info, and why do you think that they are good people to talk to? What type of research method are you going to adopt, and why is this appropriate? When are you going to complete your ethics documentation?

I had been moving in an important - but opposite - direction as my supervisor, and I left her office feeling a bit of a failure. She wanted answers, and I was busy trying to familiarize myself with the literature so that I could gradually get to the answers.

I've found that you just have to jump in - even if you don't know what you are doing. If you are an MCSer like me, you surely won't know what you are doing at this point. But just jump. Try to be specific - think of a question. Think of the people you want to ask about the question. Think about how you want to ask them. Come down from the stratosphere and get to the nitty gritty.

This feels totally unnatural. But - not meaning to slag the program - the thesis is, like many of the courses, a big damn rush. You just don't have time to sit and and ponder and if you're like me, get comfortable with everything and anything ever written on the subject before getting into the details of your project.

Prepare to be pushed to move into action early. It isn't easy, but it will be easier for you if you expect it. Expect also to be extremely uncertain as you are pushed - but just keep trying to answer those specific questions like you know what you are doing.